


Sir Faustus and the Scarlet Knight

by Elderly_Worm



Category: Doctor Faustus - Christopher Marlowe, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Fusion, American spelling, Christianity, Crack Treated Seriously, Dialogue-Only, Elizabethan English, Getting Together, Iambic Pentameter, Implied Lady Bertilak/Gawain/Bertilak de Hautdesert, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Sex, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Mild Blood, Moderate Elizabethan Innuendo, Pseudo-Iambic Pentameter, Screenplay/Script Format, Shakespearean Language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:22:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28231620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elderly_Worm/pseuds/Elderly_Worm
Summary: A fusion of Christopher Marlowe'sDoctor FaustusandSir Gawain and the Green Knight.Sir Faustus has compromised his chastity in the court of the unnamed lord, and accepted the Scarlet Knight's challenge. Now, Sir Faustus has questions, the Scarlet Knight will reveal his identity, and a proposition will be made...
Relationships: Faustus/Mephistophilis (Doctor Faustus - Marlowe), Gawain/Bertilak de Hautdesert
Kudos: 5





	Sir Faustus and the Scarlet Knight

**Author's Note:**

> This is set after the second beheading contest of _Sir Gawain and the Green Knight_ and written in a meagre attempt at mimicking the style of _Doctor Faustus_. I didn't keep track of accents, but every line is ten syllables.

SCARLET KNIGHT:

“Peace, Faustus, I mean thee no dishonour,

“And have behaved in all but by the code

“Which thou and I have made these three days hence.

“Each stroke which I have here wrought upon thee 

“Is but recompense for thy honesty. 

“For our bargain the first night, I feinted.

“For the second oath, which thou likewise kept

“By bestowing on me the sweet kisses

“The lady of my castle gave to thee,

“I smote thee with my axe, but struck thee not.

“Yet the final day, which birth’d this fair morn,

“Thy word thou broke, and for that falsity,

“My blade thy blood hath drawn; it paints the snow,

“For the scarlet girdle about thy waist

“The lady hath taken from my raiment,

“At my direction she off’red it thee.”

SIR FAUSTUS:

“O, thou foul coward who hath me deciev’d.

“Thou reciev’d me in thy house, and made fair

“And earnest shows of hospitality,

“Which I, damnèd fool Faustus, so believ’d. 

“Take thou thy red girdle, my heathen hope 

“Which cost me blood and my path to Heaven.

“Yet if I be so damn’d, by thy deceit,

“Tell me, knight, wherefore hast thou tricked me so?”

SCARLET KNIGHT:

“Tarry not on such solemn things as this. 

“My girdle I refuse, for with thy blood

“Thou hast paid the price, a hundred times o’er. 

“And since thy blood thou hast for me here spilt,

“I beseech thee, grace my castle this eve’n. 

“Revel and gaiety shall tend our days,

“In splendor surpassing what thou hast seen.

“With my wife shalt thou become accorded,

“And thus shall we three tend our prosp’rous days

“In merriment and joy like Camelot

“Hath ne’er seen in their asceticism.”

SIR FAUSTUS

“How, that my sin of covetuousness

“And unholy lust which I indulgèd

“Should so appear in guise of chivalry?

“As I have my base desire enacted,

“So I take this symbol of my chagrin,

“This cloth of scarlet, stitch’d with royal gold.

“Deceptive beauty hath me quick depriv’d

“Of my chastity and knightly honor.

“My holy virtue, long cultivated

“In Arthur’s court, land of those gentle men

“Who follow our Father exceeding well

“And tarry not on matters of the world,

“Have I lost, these three short days barely past.

“O, that I could yet repent, in a breath

“Would I beg my Lord’s gentle forgiveness,

“Yet my time for redemption past, I must

“Commit me to eternity in hell

“Which awaits those who do as I have done.

“What torment, what eternal pain awaits?

“Dids’t thou know what thou did, when the lady

“Thou so lecherously dispatch’d to me?

“Yea, so thou must, for the bargain was struck

“At thy urging, ’twixt thou and me that night. 

“Wherefore hast thou done this, Knight of Scarlet?

“Who is so deprav’d to damn faithful men

“And make merry dishonorable jest?”

SCARLET KNIGHT:

“I am all these things that thou hast call’d me,

“Damn’d, deprav’d, lecherous, and wanton too,

“For I am Mephistophilis, demon,

“Brought to this world by Satan’s damnèd will,

“And indeed by news of a land, so fair,

“So virtuous, so wanting of spoilment,

“That my master, who dwells now in my house,

“Thought his power should be question’d if it

“Were allow’d to persist in holiness.

“To that same land, thy belov’d Camelot

“We have ourselves brought, and by my master’s

“Vile arts, so deprav’d and profane, which he

“Hath worked, a castle made, and fair court too.

“So now thou see’st, my master’s art exceeds

“That of your God, the God of Camelot,

“And knowing this, I beseech thee, Faustus,

“Tarry not in toil for thy feckless lord,

“The impotent Arthur of Camelot.

“Come instead, Faustus, while thou dost yet live,

“To my estate, that castle thou hast seen,

“So full of splendor and worldly riches,

“And tarry with my wife and mine own self.”

FAUSTUS:

“Thy words are bold, o Mephistophilis,

“And my mortal heart quails at damnation.

“Yet thrice already am I now damnèd:

“In thy house I compromis’d my virtue,

“By thy wit and artful design ta’en in,

“By thy hellish temptations, subtly wrought,

“By all these am I eternally damn’d. 

“Thus, while I am living, so shall I live. 

“When I die, my soul will not know mercy,

“That grace of almighty God, for my soul

“Have I heretofore lost, and at thy hand.

“Damnèd Faustus, I am consign’d to hell.

“So falls Arthur’s honor, and his good court,

“For Faustus is fallen, Heaven forsworn.”


End file.
